Main Content

EllaLink’s transatlantic submarine cable has already anchored in Portugal

The state-of-the-art fiber optic cable that connects Portugal and Latin America has already arrived in Sines.
The system should be fully operational in the second quarter of 2021, making Portugal the new gateway to Europe to an unprecedented level of international connectivity.

EllaLink announces today that its next generation low-latency submarine cable system has already anchored in Sines, from where the connection to Latin America will be established. It is expected to become fully operational in the second quarter of this year, providing an unprecedented level of international connectivity between the two continents, which will reach Europe through Portugal.

With this operation with an investment of 150 million euros, pointed out as one of the big bets for the Portuguese Presidency of the European Commission, EllaLink will open a “corridor” for the transmission of data between the two continents, providing new opportunities to the European market. In addition to the first direct high-speed submarine cable connection between Europe and Latin America, the EllaLink system also includes several land routes that link strategic Data Centers in Lisbon, Madrid, Marseille, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza in partnership with Equinix and Interxion.

Over the past few decades, the consumption of digital products has triggered the need for connectivity between countries and continents, from simple voice transmission to the real-time transmission of streaming videos, and all future applications that will be possible thanks to the implementation of 5G worldwide. These applications require less latency, that is, the lesser time that information takes to pass on the network, from users to Data Centers and platforms. Applications are so sensitive to latency values that these have become an essential factor for the digital world.

By creating the shortest direct route between Europe and Latin America, avoiding passage through third countries, EllaLink reduces latency by 50% compared to the current infrastructure, reaching a real value of less than 60ms between Portugal and Brazil.

The state-of-the-art technology used in the EllaLink system guarantees high quality access to telecommunications services and applications, through a direct, high-speed connection with very low latency. This will be beneficial not only for all telecommunications platforms, but also for services in the Cloud, access to content, all types of digital businesses and even the gaming industry.

During the first months of 2021, EllaLink will strengthen its network so that it can be operational by the end of the second quarter. Connections are planned to the island of Madeira and Cape Verde, but also to Marseille, which will allow for increased connectivity with Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Other potential points of connection with Mauritania, Morocco, French Guiana and the Canary Islands are already in view.”

Link to article